KATHMANDU: The parliamentary deadlock persists as recent talks between the Nepali Congress and CPN (Maoist Centre) failed to produce any breakthrough.

Leaders from both parties met at the Federal Parliament building in New Baneshwor, including key figures such as Nepali Congress Vice-President Purna Bahadur Khadka, leader Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, and Maoist Deputy General Secretaries Barshaman Pun and Shakti Bahadur Basnet, along with Chief Whip Hit Raj Pandey. Despite multiple rounds of discussions, the parties remain divided on critical issues.

A major point of contention is the Maoist Centre’s insistence on forming a parliamentary investigation committee to probe the visit visa scandal, a demand that Nepali Congress has repeatedly rejected.

This stalemate continues to hamper the smooth functioning of the House, prompting ongoing talks among the chief whips of both parties aimed at resolving the obstruction, though no consensus has yet emerged.

Meanwhile, opposition parties, spearheaded by the Maoist Centre, are pressing for the resignation of Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak and the initiation of a formal parliamentary or judicial inquiry into the allegations linked to the visa controversy.

The ruling coalition counters this by emphasizing that the existing probe led by the constitutional anti-corruption body—the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA)—is adequate, and that establishing an additional investigative committee would be redundant and unproductive.